Home away from home
by couscous10000
Summary: Just after Escape Velocity has ended, Otto and the crew, (as well as Nero and Raven) are living in a "safe house" in a suburban town somewhere in the world. What could possibly go wrong? T just in case of any violence that occurs later on.
1. Leaving

**This takes place about a month after Escape Velocity has ended. All injuries have healed, and they are back to their usual selves. I have recently edited this, to try and make the characters more in character. I may still be way off the mark, sorry!**

"Goodbye Diabolus and thank you for the lift," Nero said as he and, Otto, Wing, Shelby, Laura, and Raven left the submarine and headed for the nearby parking lot. It had been just over a month since they had been reunited after Overlord's downfall, and in that time Raven had decided that it was severely unwise, (Her words "Practically signing our death warrants") to return to H.I.V.E. She had instead proposed, (Despite the fact that it would mean spending 24 hours a day with Otto and his not so merry gang of friends) that they bunkered down in a small "safe" house for a few months. Nero had agreed, (somewhat reluctantly) seeing that people were still out to bring him down.

"Otto," Nero "would you be so kind as to…" He paused, trying to find the correct word. Otto looked quizzically at him, Laura by his side. "Would you be so kind as to, _borrow_ a car that would accommodate all of us?"

Otto obliged, (only after Raven shot him a glare that suggested he complied unless he wished for a very unpleasant ride,) closing his eyes. A car in the parking lot sprang into life, its headlights mercifully on low-beam. Raven jogged over to the car, and upon seeing that it was a six seater, slid into the driver's seat. When the others reached the car Shelby and Otto began to bicker, (Raven was sure it was just to annoy her) about who would sit on the window side. Nero gave a half-hearted attempt at breaking it up, before sliding into the passenger's seat and adjusting his tie. Eventually the four students bundled themselves into the car, (Otto and Wing on the sides, with Laura and Shelby in the middle) and began to chat noisily about what flavour of ice-cream was the best. (Laura and Wing weren't really contributing though.) Raven swivelled around in her seat to face them, cutting their conversation dead.  
"Now I know that we are away from the school, but the usual rules still apply. Any breaches of these rules will be dealt with by me." She glared at them and was pleased to see some of the smugness disappear.  
Otto, (who was sitting next to Laura) looked at Raven with concern on his face.

"Raven," he began. "You know you don't have to call Dr. Nero 'Sir' if you don't want to. I'm sure he wouldn't mind if you called him 'your hotness', or 'sugarplum' or…" Otto was cut short as Raven leaned over the back of her seat and pinched him hard on the pressure point above his elbow. Otto emitted a strangled screeching sound, and shrunk back into his seat, away from Raven. Raven glared at the other three, daring them to say anything.

"Well," She said, with ice in her tone. "I see you are all buckled in. Please refrain from winding down the windows. It affects the air-conditioning." And with that she spun around, buckled herself in, started the engine and reversed out of the parking space.

She could feel the heat in her cheeks and Nero's questioning gaze. How she despised Malpense! As party music started to blare from the back, Raven reached for her Blackbox and headphones. Soon Russian classical music filled her ears, and she felt calmer. As she turned onto the highway, she pictured bashing Otto over the head.  
Nero was her employer, her friend, and her ally, but nothing more.

 **I think that Otto is still OOC, but hopefully it is better than what it was.**

 **Thanks for reading!**


	2. Arriving

**A massive thank you to pietoraven36 for reviewing! :)  
I hope that this is now not as OOC. Otto is still OOC, but I couldn't delete that bit… Next chapter should be out soon. **

Dawn was breaking as Raven steered the car onto a deserted suburban street. They had travelled through the night, heading for this town. Admittedly Raven hadn't exactly stuck to the speed limit, but it had ensured that they arrived before anyone was awake enough to notice them. Nero had fallen asleep shortly after they had entered the highway, (Probably due to not sleeping for the past 48 hours) leaving her to concentrate on the road, and not murdering everyone onboard. Unfortunately, Otto and the gang had refused to shush, and shortly after midnight Otto had informed her that they were all about to die of hunger. Raven had asked, (after her stomach had reminded her that it appreciated it when she ate) where she was to find food for all of them, he had simply pointed to a McDonalds sign. Thankfully everyone fell asleep after eating their cheeseburger meal-deals, which left her to chomp away on her burger (and contemplate what the cheese was actually made of,) in silence. At around 4am Wing had awoken, looked around, before resting his head on the window and falling asleep.

As Raven turned into a suburban driveway, Nero started to stir. Just as he awoke, Raven switched off the engine of the car, parking it outside a small house.  
"Where are we?" Nero asked groggily.  
"Our home for the time being." Raven replied, taking the keys out of the ignition and unbuckling her seat-belt.  
Nero nodded and sat upright in his seat.

Swivelling around in hers, Raven observed the students in the back. Laura's head was resting on Otto's shoulder, and his head rested on hers. Shelby's head rested on Wing's shoulder, and Wing (Who had slipped back to sleep) also had his head resting on Shelby's. Raven allowed herself a small smile, just because they looked so cute. She resisted the urge to take a photo of them and instead stepped out into the brisk morning. She rummaged around in her tactical harness for a key, and upon finding it, unlocked the screen door. Raven punched a lengthy code into the wooden door, and it unlocked with a solid thud. Stepping into the medium-sized kitchen/living area she surveyed it quickly, before moving into the hallway. There were two bedrooms, a single bathroom and a laundry. Raven walked into the larger bedroom, and surveyed it. Darkdoom hadn't given her any information on the house other than the address and access code. She bagsied the bed closest to the window by putting a throwing star on it, before slowly trudging her way back to the car.

Nero exited the van when Raven approached, as did Wing. Between the three of them, they managed to drag the other three into the house. How they managed to sleep through being dragged 10 meters, Raven could not fathom.

After dumping the three slumbering junior villains on beds, Raven, Nero and Wing sat down in the lounge and discussed what needed to be done. The security of the house was pretty good, but Raven insisted that they installed a few booby traps. After investigating the pantry and finding nothing but dust bunnies and a can of baked beans, they all agreed that going shopping was pretty high on their agenda. Whilst Wing went to check on his classmates, Nero and Raven discussed matters in hushed tones. (And also in Swahili, so no-one could eavesdrop).

"Are you certain we weren't followed?" The concern was evident in Nero's voice. The past month had been a trialling time for them all, trying to evade the various people after them. Raven nodded.

"I used every evasive measure possible without taking us into another country, dumping the van and paragliding to our destination."

Nero's face softened and he relaxed into the sofa.

"We have to be careful Raven, I don't know who's out there. That scares me more than I care to admit."

Raven nodded once again. She felt the same as Nero. It certainly wasn't the first time in her life where she was being pursued by unknown forces, but normally she didn't have four young lives at stake.

Wing walked back into the room and noticed the sombre atmosphere.

"Is everything okay?" He enquired, concern etched on his face.

"Yes Wing, we were just discussing plans for tomorrow." Raven hated lying to students, (When she did speak with them) but she did not want Wing to worry.

Wing looked unconvinced, but nodded his head all the same. "I see. Shelby and Laura are sleeping lightly, I believe we could wake them if needed. Otto is mumbling in his sleep about how his McDonalds cheeseburger was not made from real cheese, and how the fries were too salty."

Raven stifled a small laugh, and saw Nero's eye's contract slightly, a sign that he was slightly amused. Nero stood and walked over to the bedroom in which Otto was sleeping.

"Shall we wake those who are sleeping, so that we can prepare the house?" Nero sounded professional once more.

Raven wandered to the girls' room to wake them up. Shelby was sleeping peacefully where Wing had put her, however Laura had fallen off the bed. Raven smiled softly, before softly shaking Shelby.

"Shelby, you need to wake up now." Shelby refused to stir. Raven sighed, and repeated the process with Laura.

Laura groggily opened her eyes, tried to sit up and bashed her head on the bed frame. She winced before standing up.

"Can you help me wake Shelby? She's refusing to get up." Raven watched as Laura's face broke into a grin, and as she walked over to the sleeping Shelby. Laura bent down, whispered something in Shelby's ear, and stumbled backwards as Shelby jumped out of bed and ran out the door.

"What did you say to her?" Raven asked, admiring how efficiently Laura had woken Shelby.

"I told her that the boy's water polo was about to start, and that we were missing out on all the good seats."

Raven once again stifled a small laugh, and threw Laura a bunch of sheets.  
"Have a shot at making your bed, you'll appreciate it tonight."

Shelby walked back into the room, her face dark. Laura shot her a sheepish glance, as Raven threw her a pile of sheets.

Raven walked into the boy's room and saw that Wing and Nero were making their beds. Otto was attempting to. By some twist of fate it appeared that he had managed to get himself, well, inside the quilt cover. Raven blinked rapidly a few times and Wing looked at her sympathetically.

"I think he is still half asleep. He has not slept well for the past week, and just before he muttered something about how he must find the secret of the universe, before he crawled into his quilt."

Raven sighed and walked out of the room (leaving Otto to die for all she cared at the current moment) and decided to make her own bed.

It was going to be a very long day.

 **If you have any suggestions about how I could keep the characters more in character, please let me know! I went off on a bit of a tangent initially with this story, so I'm trying to make it more readable now!**

 **Thanks for reading!**


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